TY - JOUR
T1 - How does restaurant experienscape affect solo diners' emotions and dining satisfaction in Korea?
AU - Im, Soo Yeon
AU - Seo, Sunhee
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited.
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - Purpose: This study aims to explore the role of restaurant experienscape in affecting diners' emotions and satisfaction with solo dining, considering the moderating role of solo dining willingness and public self-consciousness (PSC). Design/methodology/approach: In total, 403 Korean customers who had dined alone at restaurants in the past three months participated in this study. Structural equation modeling, including multiple group analysis, was conducted to examine the hypotheses. Findings: The dining atmosphere influenced solo diners' positive emotions but not their negative emotions. Responses from other guests and the interactional fairness of employees affected solo diners' negative emotions but not their positive emotions. Food sensory influences both positive and negative emotions. This study found that PSC significantly moderated the effect of the dining atmosphere on positive emotions, and solo dining willingness significantly moderated the impact of food sensory on positive emotions. Practical implications: This study suggests that restaurant managers should pay close attention to providing fair service to all customers by training and educating employees because the unfair treatment that solo diners receive from employees affects focal customers' negative emotions. Originality/value: The experienscape model was applied to the solo dining context based on Mehrabian and Russell's (1974) stimulus–organism–response paradigm and Pizam and Tasci's (2019) experienscape concept, which reflects the growing trend in solo dining.
AB - Purpose: This study aims to explore the role of restaurant experienscape in affecting diners' emotions and satisfaction with solo dining, considering the moderating role of solo dining willingness and public self-consciousness (PSC). Design/methodology/approach: In total, 403 Korean customers who had dined alone at restaurants in the past three months participated in this study. Structural equation modeling, including multiple group analysis, was conducted to examine the hypotheses. Findings: The dining atmosphere influenced solo diners' positive emotions but not their negative emotions. Responses from other guests and the interactional fairness of employees affected solo diners' negative emotions but not their positive emotions. Food sensory influences both positive and negative emotions. This study found that PSC significantly moderated the effect of the dining atmosphere on positive emotions, and solo dining willingness significantly moderated the impact of food sensory on positive emotions. Practical implications: This study suggests that restaurant managers should pay close attention to providing fair service to all customers by training and educating employees because the unfair treatment that solo diners receive from employees affects focal customers' negative emotions. Originality/value: The experienscape model was applied to the solo dining context based on Mehrabian and Russell's (1974) stimulus–organism–response paradigm and Pizam and Tasci's (2019) experienscape concept, which reflects the growing trend in solo dining.
KW - Dining atmosphere
KW - Interactional fairness
KW - Public self-consciousness
KW - Restaurant experienscape
KW - Solo diners’ emotions
KW - Solo dining willingness
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85156158684&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1108/IJCHM-07-2022-0864
DO - 10.1108/IJCHM-07-2022-0864
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85156158684
SN - 0959-6119
JO - International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management
JF - International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management
ER -